Jude, you also ask about Flannery's quote "Violence is a force which can be used for good or evil, and among other things, TAKEN BY IT IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN."
It comes from the Douay–Rheims edition* of the New Testament of the Bible, the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 11, verse 12.
"AND it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he passed from thence, to teach and preach in their cities.
2Now when John had heard in prison the works of Christ: sending two of his disciples he said to him: 3Art thou he that art to come, or look we for another? 4And Jesus making answer said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. 5The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me.
7And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: What went you out into the desert to see? a reed shaken with the wind? 8But what went you out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings. 9But what went you out to see? a prophet? yea I tell you, and more than a prophet.
10For this is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.
11Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist: yet he that is the lesser in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12And from the days of John the Baptist until now,
the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away. 13For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John: 14And if you will receive it, he is Elias that is to come. 15He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
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+* The Douay–Rheims Bible (also known as the Rheims–Douai Bible or Douai Bible, and abbreviated as D–R and DV) is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English made by members of the English College, Douai, in the service of the Catholic Church. The New Testament portion was published in Reims, France, in 1582, in one volume with extensive commentary and notes. The Old Testament portion was published in two volumes thirty years later by the University of Douai.
Wikipedia says:
"There are various explanations for the use of this passage as a title, the most accepted being that violence constantly attacks God and heaven, and that only those violent with the love of God can bear it away."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Violent_Bear_It_Away#Explanation_of_the_novel.27s_titleIt seems from what Flannery O'Connor herself says, that violence thrust upon her characters could be the occasion for opening her characters to their true self -- to life and the action of the Divine in their life (grace) and their means to take heaven by storm, so to speak.
